Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur (SP)
Kundapur, Jul 8: On July 9 this year, exactly a year after the death of Ratna Kottary from Alandoor Konanamakki in Yadtare village near Byndoor, who happened to be a student of Shirur PU college, bitter memories continue to haunt the people of the taluk. Because, even after a year, no one is able to throw light on how and under what circumstances Ratna lost her life. There have been different theories about her death, but all of them are hypothetical to say the least. Although the police department has now taken the stand that hers was a case of natural death, people in general strongly feel that it was not the actual fact.
During these twelve months, this poor family which lost it's daughter in an unfortunate and unexplained incident, has not received any compensation from the government. There are also doubts whether the family will receive any compensation in future too because if the student's death is taken as natural, such deaths do not quality for government compensation, it is learnt.
The police department has not been able to zero in on what caused her death, and therefore it has conveniently embraced the 'natural death' theory. Even after the department subjected over 70 persons to scrutiny and interrogation, nothing came out of this exercise. There has also been delay in filing of the charge sheet.
On July 9 last year, Ratna Kottary (17), a first PU student of Shiroor PU college, had left her college after classes at around 3.30 pm with her friends as usual. She then walked through the shortcut path leading to her home, but failed to reach there. Within half km since she took a deviation, apparently something strange occurred. As she did not reach home, a search was undertaken, and missing complaint was filed. Searches conducted on July 9 and 10 failed to produce any result. On July 12 morning, decomposed body of Ratna was found from Savantagudde.
It is said that the doctors failed to pinpoint the actual purpose of her death, as her mortal remains were decomposed by the time it was subjected to postmortem. The postmortem report indicated that it was not a case of suicide, the girl had not consumed poisonous substances, nor was asphyxiated. There were no lethal injury marks on her body. At the same time, there is no conclusive answer to the question as to how she died. The preliminary report of the doctors had ruled out rape. What else could have caused her death?
People find it hard to digest the 'natural death' theory. Because, if it was natural death, Ratna's body should have been found on the path she took to go home. Her body was found behind the bushes about 50 metres away from the path. It is said that searchers had even covered the spot where her body was found, on July 9. On the basis of these aspects, it is almost certain that she had not died of natural causes. How and under what circumstances, and why Ratna's death was caused has become an interesting and controversial topic for discussion.
Police department claims that Ratna had certain health issues, and was weak. She would have deviated from her natural course to relieve herself, and she would have been killed because of cardiac arrest or lightning, they argue.
Ratna was an innocent girl, who was hard working. She used to lessen the financial burden of her family by working during summer and other holidays. She did not suffer from any physical or mental disorders, her family says. Other than occasional headaches, she never suffered from any serious ailments. Therefore, the ill health theory does not look convincing, the people say. Again, the same question, 'how else did she die', continues to hover in the mind.
The financial condition of Ratna's family is very bad. Her hapless parents continue to live with the memories of their deceased daughter. The government should have extended some help and wiped their tears on humanitarian grounds considering their abject poverty. But government and department sight rules and laws. People feel that in this case, rules could have been compromised to assist a family which genuinely deserves a helping hand.
In the recent past, caste and creed get an upper hand whenever protests are held or demands are made. The things have come to such a pass that even when death occurs, struggle has to be carried out by that particular caste as a group to succeed. Because Kottrary community has a small presence in the district, their collective voice perhaps was not strong enough to be heard at the state level, one feels. It appears in this background, that the government did not pay heed to the fight carried out by Kottary community from all over the district, because of their numbers which are not imposing enough.